Methods, apparatuses, and systems relating to automation in distributed systems

Abstract

Apparatuses, systems and methods are presented. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a graphical user interface part of a deployment file on a first computer, the deployment file configured to cause a second computer to perform a computer-implemented job. The method may also include loading the graphical user interface part of the deployment file on the first computer. Additionally, the method may include displaying an interactive graphical user interface on a display device in data communication with the first computer.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A non-transitory tangible computer program product comprising computer readable instructions, that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:
 receiving a graphical user interface part of a deployment file on a first computer, the deployment file configured to cause a second computer to perform a computer-implemented job; 
 loading the graphical user interface part of the deployment file on the first computer; and 
 displaying an interactive graphical user interface on a display device in data communication with the first computer. 
 
     
     
       2. The tangible computer program product of  claim 1 , the instructions further comprising:
 receiving a job-configuration parameter from the interactive graphical user interface; and 
 storing the job-configuration parameter in a database configured to be accessible by the first computer and the second computer. 
 
     
     
       3. The tangible computer program product of  claim 2 , wherein the database is accessible by the first computer and the second computer through data communications with a server coupled to the database. 
     
     
       4. The tangible computer program product of  claim 1 , the instructions further comprising:
 obtaining a result of the computer-implemented job from the second computer; and 
 displaying results of the computer-implemented job in the interactive graphical user interface. 
 
     
     
       5. The tangible computer program product of  claim 4 , the instructions further comprising synchronously obtaining the result of the computer-implemented job from the second computer. 
     
     
       6. The tangible computer program product of  claim 4 , the instructions further comprising asynchronously obtaining the result of the computer-implemented job from a database. 
     
     
       7. A non-transitory tangible computer program product comprising computer readable instructions, that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:
 receiving an agent part of a deployment file on a second computer, the deployment file configured to cause the second computer to perform a computer-implemented job; 
 loading the agent part of the deployment file on the second computer; and 
 performing the computer-implemented job on the second computer according to a job-configuration parameter provided by a first computer configured to run a graphical user interface part of the deployment file. 
 
     
     
       8. The tangible computer program product of  claim 7 , the instructions further comprising accessing a database managed by a server. 
     
     
       9. The tangible computer program product of  claim 8 , the instructions further comprising obtaining the agent part of the deployment file from the database. 
     
     
       10. The tangible computer program product of  claim 8 , the instructions further comprising obtaining the job-configuration parameter from the database. 
     
     
       11. The tangible computer program product of  claim 10 , the agent part configured to obtain the job-configuration parameter asynchronously from the database. 
     
     
       12. The tangible computer program product of  claim 8 , the instructions further comprising storing a result of the computer-implemented job in the database. 
     
     
       13. The tangible computer program product of  claim 8 , the instructions further comprising synchronously communicating the result of the computer-implemented job to the first computer. 
     
     
       14. A non-transitory tangible computer program product comprising computer readable instructions, that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:
 receiving a request from a first computer for a graphical user interface part of a deployment file, the deployment file configured to cause a second computer to perform a computer-implemented job; 
 obtaining the graphical user interface part of the deployment file from a database configured to be accessible by the first computer and the second computer; and 
 communicating the graphical user interface part of the deployment file to the first computer. 
 
     
     
       15. The tangible computer program product of  claim 14 , the instructions further comprising:
 receiving a job-configuration parameter from the first computer; and 
 storing the job-configuration parameter in the database. 
 
     
     
       16. The tangible computer program product of  claim 14 , the instructions further comprising communicating a result of the computer-implemented job to the first computer for display with the graphical user interface part of the deployment file. 
     
     
       17. A non-transitory tangible computer program product comprising computer readable instructions, that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:
 sending an agent part of a deployment file to a second computer, the deployment file configured to cause the second computer to perform a computer-implemented job; and 
 sending a job-configuration parameter to the second computer, the job-configuration parameter provided by a first computer configured to run a graphical user interface part of the deployment file. 
 
     
     
       18. The tangible computer program product of  claim 17 , wherein the agent part of the deployment file and the job-configuration parameter are stored in a database. 
     
     
       19. The tangible computer program product of  claim 17 , the instructions further comprising:
 receiving a result of the computer-implemented job from the second computer; and 
 storing the result of the computer-implemented job in the database configured to be accessible by the first computer and the second computer. 
 
     
     
       20. A non-transitory tangible computer program product comprising:
 a database configured to manage at least one deployment file comprising modules, the modules grouped in a GUI part and an agent part; 
 a GUI client configured to load the GUI part of the deployment file; 
 a framework configured to load the agent part of the deployment file; 
 the agent part being platform independent and being startable and loadable by the framework; 
 the GUI part comprising a GUI description of the agent part; 
 the agent part comprising jobs, the jobs being startable from the GUI part; 
 the GUI part being configured to query information from the agent part; and 
 where both the framework and the GUI client can be run on different machines.